KC Crain: What we have in stock

By
Autoweek

Dec 2, 2007

As most of you know, AutoWeek celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2008, and that has us reading through thousands of pages. For me, one great pleasure has been looking over the old racing stories. This publication has covered NASCAR to one degree or another since 1958. Back then--as now--manufacturers got involved to sell cars. In the early days, car companies had to homologate their cars (putting a certain number of the vehicles they raced into production) to be eligible. Race fans could buy those same cars--Ford Talladegas or Dodge Daytona Chargers, for instance.

At Laguna Seca this year for the final American Le Mans Series race, I noticed that some things haven't changed over the years: People really enjoy seeing race cars that look like road cars, as they do in the GT1 and GT2 classes. In the ALMS, the Porsches and Ferraris look like cars available for sale. Now, with the Pratt & Miller C6RS, you can get a Corvette that looks virtually identical to the GT1 race car. Another appealing thing about the ALMS is that even in the pure race-car LMP classes, much of the developed racing technology winds up in production cars. When a big-torque Audi diesel squares off against a lighter Porsche RS Spyder, not only do the two vehicles look different, but people get a sense of technology being tested and make a connection to the A4 or the Boxster.

The first time I saw a Chevy bow tie with the number 20 tattooed on a Daytona attendee, I knew NASCAR generated serious loyalties. But now we're getting Camrys, Fusions, Chargers and Monte Carlos that all look alike except for the stickers. There is no doubt that automakers have sold lots of cars and trucks through the years because of NASCAR. But if the car that wins on Sunday bears no resemblance to the one in the showroom, what is supposed to motivate the buyer on Monday?

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